Sacked European Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson makes his LIV Golf Invitational Series debut on Friday as Donald Trump’s Bedminster course hosts the second US event of the insurgent Saudi-backed circuit in opposition to a backdrop of protests.
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Stenson was stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy final week after affirmation he had opted to signal with LIV in a deal reportedly price near $50 million.
It was simply the newest bombshell to detonate throughout {the golfing} world, which has been plunged right into a digital civil struggle this 12 months with the emergence of the LIV circuit.
The upstart collection, fronted by Greg Norman, is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and has sought to lure prime golfers with contracts which in some instances run into the a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
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Human Rights teams have criticised the enterprise, saying it’s a “sportswashing” train getting used to spice up Saudi Arabia’s worldwide repute.
Stenson’s choice to hitch LIV follows defections by a number of stars from the United States and Europe, together with main winners such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau.
Those gamers have all been hit with indefinite bans from the PGA Tour.
Several of Stenson’s former European Ryder Cup team-mates, together with Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood have additionally signed with LIV Golf.
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This week’s match has an additional dimension on condition that it’s going down at former US President Trump’s Trump National course at Bedminster, New Jersey.
Bedminster was resulting from have hosted this 12 months’s PGA Championship main, however was stripped of that proper final 12 months within the wake of the January 6 riot by the previous president’s supporters on the US Capitol.
Donald Trump: ‘Take the money’
Trump has subsequently emerged as a vocal advocate for LIV, final week urging golfers to “take the money” and signal with the circuit.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal printed on Tuesday, avid golfer Trump once more spoke admiringly of LIV, describing it as “one of the hottest things to have happened in sports.”
“I think LIV has been a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia,” Trump advised the paper.
“I think it’s going to be an incredible investment from that standpoint, and that’s more valuable than lots of other things because you can’t buy that -even with billions of dollars.”
Trump has confronted protests for internet hosting the match by family of individuals killed and injured within the September 11, 2001 assaults on New York and Washington. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers concerned within the atrocity have been Saudi nationals.
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In an open letter to Trump launched final week, the 9/11 Justice group urged him to chop ties to LIV Golf. Another Trump golf property, Trump National at Doral in Florida, will stage the October 27-30 finale to the collection.
“It is difficult for us to fully express the extreme pain, frustration and anger this upcoming tournament at Bedminster causes our community,” the group wrote.
“It is incomprehensible to us that a former President of the United States would cast our loved ones aside for personal financial gain.”
Trump nevertheless dismissed the criticism he has confronted from 9/11 households, and in addition performed down the 2018 homicide of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
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“I can say that from the standpoint of Khashoggi, that has died down so much,” Trump advised the Wall Street Journal.
“It really seems to have totally died down.”
Commenting on criticism from 9/11 households, Trump added: “I don’t know a lot concerning the 9/11 households, I don’t know what’s the relationship to this, and their very robust emotions, and I can perceive their emotions.
“I can’t really comment on that because I don’t know exactly what they’re saying, and what they’re saying who did what.”
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
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